he Flash is a DC Comics superhero possessing super-speed. Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940).
Thus far, three different people have assumed the identity of the Flash: Jay Garrick (1940-present), Barry Allen (1956-86), and Wally West (1987-present) Each of these individuals somehow gained the power of super-speed, which includes the ability to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes, and violate certain laws of physics.
The second incarnation of the Flash was among the first heroes of the Silver Age of comic books in 1956. The character featured in a short-lived live action television series in 1990. The Flash is also featured in the animated series Justice League.

Publication history
The Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940). This Flash was Jay Garrick, a college student who gained his speed through the inhalation of hard water vapors, and who wore a winged metal helmet. He is notable for being the first speedster in comics, and one of the first to have a singular super-power as opposed to the multi-talented Superman. He was created by writer Gardner Fox.
Garrick was a popular character in the 1940s, supporting two different titles and being a charter and long-time member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team. Garrick's adventures in the Golden Age of comic books came to an end when Flash Comics was cancelled with the publication of issue #104 (1949), and the subsequent end of the Justice Society's adventures with All-Star Comics #57 (1951). Superheroes (and the entire comic book industry) had fallen on hard times in the 1950s, and the Flash was only one casualty.


Left to right: Wally West, Bart Allen as Impulse, Jay Garrick, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury (background), from Flash #97. Art by Mike Wieringo.
A few years later, DC Comics decided the time was right to reintroduce some superheroes. Rather than bring back the Golden Age heroes unchanged, DC decided to recreate them as new, more modern characters. The Flash was the first such hero to be revived in a new incarnation. Showcase #4 (1956) introduced Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained super-speed when he was bathed by chemicals after a shelf full of them was struck by lightning. After several more appearances in Showcase, Allen's character was given his own title, The Flash the first issue of which was #105 (resuming where Flash Comics had left off).
The Silver Age Flash proved popular enough that several other Golden Age heroes were revived in new incarnations. A new superhero team, the Justice League of America, was also created, with the Flash as a prominent member.
The Flash also introduced a long-standing plot device into superhero comics, when it was revealed that Garrick and Allen existed on fictional parallel worlds. Their powers allowed them to cross the dimensional boundary between worlds, and the men became good friends; their respective teams began an annual get-together which endured from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s.
Allen's adventures continued in his own title until the advent of Crisis on Infinite Earths (The Flash ended as a series with #350). Allen's life had become considerably confused in the early 1980s, and DC elected to end his adventures and pass the mantle on to another character. Allen died heroically in the Crisis #8 (1986), though thanks to his ability to travel through time, he would continue to appear occasionally in the years to come.
The third Flash is Wally West, who was introduced in Flash #110 (1959) as Kid Flash. West, Allen's nephew by marriage, gained the Flash's powers through an accident identical to Allen's (this acquisition of powers has been criticized heavily by some fans), and adopted the Kid Flash identity and maintained membership in the Teen Titans for years. Following Allen's death, West adopted the Flash identity in Crisis #12 and was given his own series, beginning with The Flash vol 2 #1 (1987). As of 2005, he is the current holder of the title.

Flash latest reviews

• Comic Reviews: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive: Full Throttle trade paperback (DC Comics)
  10 Jul 2008 at 3:02pm
  [Contains spoilers for Flash: Full Throttle]
  Obviously writer Marc Guggenheim got something of a tough assignment: kill Bart Allen, the youngest Flash and one that had only been wearing the Flash mantle less than ten issues. While Flash: The Fastest Man Alive: Full Throttle failed to convince me of the real necessity of Bart Allen's death (unlike, say, Blue Beetle's murder in The OMAC Project), I admire the bunch of nods Guggenheim included in this trade to make Bart's death true to the Flash legacy.
  
  After a dismal start to this title in Lightning in a Bottle, Guggenheim and even the previous Flash team Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo begin to show the potential the Bart Allen character has as the Flash. Bilson and Demeo bow out gracefully, moving Bart Allen to Los Angeles and enrolling him in the police academy like his grandfather, Barry Allen. Guggenheim writes a slightly snappier, more confident Bart, his dialogue peppered with parenthetical asides, and it makes the character finally smack of leading man rather than supporting character. The trade gets big art assists toward the end from Tony Daniel, such that when Bart Allen fought Captain Cold in a great whodunit one-shot, I finally felt I was really looking at the Flash.
  
  Second, in what's now become a Flash tradition, Guggenheim lets Bart Allen know his death is coming. In allowing Bart to choose his death for the good of Los Angeles ("run toward" his death, if you will), Bart's death becomes more of a noble sacrifice than a murder, much akin again to the death of Barry Allen. And I loved the homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths in the penultimate chapter; it really shows Guggenheim researched the character and tried to make Bart's death a lasting, rather than passing event (apparently Guggenheim tried to include even more bits like this).
  
  In terms, however, of Bart's murder itself, there's an interesting bit of backtracking in the book. This collection also includes the Mark Waid-written All Flash #1, which bridged Guggenheim's Flash series and Waid's new/old one, and there's a marked difference between Guggenheim's depiction of the murder and Waid's. In Guggenheim's story, the Rogues are fairly bloodthirsty and seem intent on killing Bart; in Waid's, there's a suggestion Bart was killed inadvertently in "the heat of the moment." Had Guggenheim stopped with Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and Weather Wizard all firing on Bart at once, I might believe the murder was an accident, but the panel of the Rogues nearly stomping on Bart seems pretty clear. In comic books, however, I think the adage that "he who speaks last, makes history" is probably true, so Waid's version stands; I also understand there's a bit in Countdown that might make this clearer, too.
  
  I've been reading about Bart Allen since his inception in Flash around the time of Zero Hour, through his solo series and Young Justice and into Teen Titans, so his death does make me pretty nostalgic. At the same time, there's no question that turning Bart Allen into the Flash so soon after his having become Kid Flash was something of a misbegotten idea. My preference wasn't for Bart Allen to die, but having him be the new Flash hardly seemed viable either. It's up in the air whether Bart was "intended" by DC Editorial to die when he became the new Flash--if so, it might almost be preferable, as it would suggest that this is only the second, rather than the final, act in Bart's story. Personally, I don't 100 percent believe that Bart is dead--his Grandma Iris beat death once before herself, if you'll remember.
  
  There are quite a bit of fans undeservedly ripping Guggenheim a new one at the comicbookBloc link up above, though overall the outcry against Guggenheim for killing Bart didn't nearly equate the outcry Adam Beechen received over turning Batgirl rogue. Maybe the editorial hand was more obvious in Guggenheim's case, but it's interesting the somewhat fickle relationship fans have with writers--I can't help but think that a slow news cycle sometimes can make all the difference. Guggenheim certainly displayed his comic books writing prowess in making Bart Allen's death palatable, and I do wonder what the writer would have achieved had Bart's death not been preordained, or what he might do with a series like Blue Beetle or Teen Titans.
  
  [Contains full covers, variant covers.]
  
  We're going to check back in with Catwoman for a bit, and then on to the first Countdown to Final Crisis trade paperback. Be there!
  
  (Oh, and Marc? You had me at 3x2(9YZ)4A.)---
  

  This post was syndicated from Collected Editions, the chronicles of a "wait-for-trade-er" -- the new breed of comic book book fans who forgo monthly "floppies" for trade paperbacks and collected editions -- reviews, commentaries, low price alerts, news, and the occasional scoop. Visit collectededitions.blogspot.com.